Hello,
I am moving to Fresno from Harrogate in the UK in three weeks with my husband and two small children; I wondered if any of the Brit expats on this site live in that region? I am British, but have dual US-UK citizenship and have lived in Florida for three years. I have heard good and bad about Fresno. I imagine that I will just make my mind up about it when I get there! At least is seems centrally located, so we can visit other places of interest.
Another question I have concerns family visits to the US. If my family wanted to come and visit from the UK, do they now need to apply for visas in advance?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Harrogate to Fresno must be just about the ultimate culture shock!

If you've got visa questions, they should go in the US Immigration forum.
If your family members are eligible to travel visa-free on the Visa Waiver Program, they don't need visas for visits.
If they are not eligible, they need a visitor's visa (B-2) before traveling.

Hopefully some Fresno people will pop in.. today is a holiday here though, so there are fewer people around.

Thanks for your reply. I personally don't have visa concerns. As I said, I am a dual citizen. I have a US passport and so do all my family members. My husband was born in the US. I was merely stating that so people DID NOT think I had visa questions relared to me. I am solely looking to meet other Brits in the Fresno area. The question about family coming to visit was an aside and I will post that in the relevant category. Thank you.

Sorry, I meant my immediate family are US citizens, not my mother etc. Thanks again!

No kidding! At least we went from Harrogate to Seattle!

What is bringing you to Fresno, if I might ask?

Fresno

Because Frenso is primarily a farming community, many of the schools are not ranked that high due to many families of the children aren't well educated (also many illegal immigrants). It appears that if you want a good school, you should find a home in the Clovis school district (Woodland Park and Clovis area). Click on any symbol to see information about different schools.

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/...68143%2C11%2C1

I haven't been to Fresno for a long time but remember that it is a pretty clean city. However, since it is in the inland valley, it will be very hot during the summer with no cooling ocean breezes.

The only person that I know off on BE that lives in the hot inland valley is "Poppy Girl" but she lives near Modesto.

Good luck with the move, we aren't far from Poppy and the weather is heating up fast. mid to upper 90's all week here so even hotter in Fresno.
I've been through there one time, not the best but I'm sure there are worse places to live.
Why did you pick Fresno?

Yep its a Hot one again , but any ways I go there 2-3 times a month I have customers there and its worse then Modesto in my opinion (if thats possible!) there is no culture to the place what so ever its just what I call Blar and rough for the most part, at least I live on the edge of Modesto going into the countryside...
Parts of Clovis are OK but in general nasty, sorry to tell you but you did ask

Good luck

Bakersfield is marginally worse than Fresno imo, but it's a close run thing.

Oh I hear you

One of the women in the office moved from Bakersfield to LA around 5 years ago. Her daughter's class were telling stories of field trips to The Getty, Science Centre.... the only place she had been was cotton picking

She was also shot in the foot in a gang drive by shooting, and a distant relative recently shot dead to steal his car. She seems to think its normal in Bakersfield.

Oh and it smells of cows. Apart from that it seems lovely

But you can rent a 3,000 sq ft house for about $2,000 a month in Clovis.

I went to high school in Harrogate